Blanched and Part-dried Nettle Leaves
Blanched and Part-dried Nettle Leaves is a modern British recipe for a wild food replacement for the cassava leaf greens and sweet potato greens that are a feature of West African cookery and here a substitute is made from blanched, part-dried and shredded nettle leaves. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Blanched and Part-dried Nettle Leaves.
prep time
20 minutes
cook time
260 minutes
Total Time:
280 minutes
Serves:
6
Rating: 
Tags : Wild FoodBritish Recipes
My wife is West African and is very used to using a range of fresh and part-dried greens in various dishes. Most of the greens she is used to only grow in hot climes (bitterleaf, cassava greens, sweet potato greens etc) and I've been racking my brains to try and produce substitutes based on European greens. Hence this recipe for preparing nettle leaves as a substitute for part-dried and minced cassava greens.
Method:
As always, be careful when picking nettle leaves (always wear gloves) and if possible pick fresh young leaves or growing tops (best done in spring). Discard any stems and wash the leaves thoroughly.
Bring a large pan of water to a boil (I use a 10l pot for this) and blanch the leaves for 2 minutes then drain (this denatures the formic acid in the leaves so they will no longer sting). Refresh under plenty of cold, running, water then transfer the leaves to a colander and set aside to drain over the sink for 20 minutes.
After this time use your hands to squeeze out any excess moisture. Chop the leaves very roughly then lay out in thin layers on lightly-greased baking trays. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 50°C and dry out gradually for about 4 hours (you want the leaves to be slightly dried not crisp; if desired you can dry out in the sun). Pass the leaves through a mincer (do not purée).
The greens are ready to use at this point and make an acceptable substitute to cassava leaves in West African recipes. You can also freeze the minced leaves at this stage for later use.